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The Paris Agreement a New Framework for Global Climate Action

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The Paris Agreement a New Framework for Global Climate Action Briefing January 2016 The Paris Agreement A new framework for global climate action SUMMARY The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 by the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It provides a framework for global actions to address climate change in the period after 2020. The objective of the agreement is to maintain the increase in global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, whilst making efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. The agreement aims to ensure global greenhouse gas emissions peak as soon as possible, and to balance emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century. Furthermore, the agreement addresses adaptation to climate change, financial and other support for developing countries, technology transfer and capacity building, as well as loss and damage. In contrast to the Kyoto Protocol, which commits only developed countries to specific reduction targets, the Paris Agreement requires all countries to prepare nationally determined contributions (NDCs), take measures to achieve their objectives, and report on progress. In order to raise the level of ambition over time, Parties must submit updated NDCs every five years. Each Party's new NDC must be more ambitious than its previous NDC. Initial reactions to the Paris Agreement were mostly positive, but commentators note that huge efforts will be needed to overcome the gap between the ambition of the agreement and the emission reductions pledged by the Parties. In this briefing: The road to Paris Paris agreement provisions Upcoming developments Initial reactions The challenge of implementation Main references Laurence Tubiana (France's Special Representative), Christiana Figueres (UNFCCC Executive Secretary) and Laurent Fabius (French Foreign Minister and COP 21 President), celebrate the adoption of the agreement. EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Author: Gregor Erbach Members' Research Service PE 573.910 EN EPRS The Paris Agreement Glossary Adaptation: adjustment of behaviour to limit harm, or exploit beneficial opportunities, arising from actual or expected climate change. Capacity building: enhancing the ability of individuals, organisations and institutions to identify, plan and implement ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR): a principle in international law which recognises differences in the contribution of developed and developing nations to global environmental problems, and differences in their respective capacities to take action. Developed country (Annex I country): in the context of climate negotiations, this refers to countries with a long history of industrialisation, listed in Annex I to the UNFCCC. Developing country (non-Annex I country): in the context of climate negotiations, this refers to countries without a long history of industrialisation. It includes countries at various levels of economic development and with very different greenhouse-gas emissions levels. INDC: intended nationally determined contribution. Kyoto Protocol: an international agreement linked to the UNFCCC that commits developed nations to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. Loss and damage: costs of climate impacts that are not prevented by mitigation or adaptation. Mitigation: actions to limit dangerous climate change, notably by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. NDC: nationally determined contribution. UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international agreement aimed at preventing dangerous man-made climate change. The road to Paris Man-made climate change was recognised as a problem in the second half of the 20th century. In 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established to assess the scientific evidence. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, and entered into force in 1994. Its objective is the 'stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system'. The UNFCCC acknowledged that countries have common but differentiated responsibilities. Developed countries, responsible for most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and with more capacity to act, were therefore expected to take the lead in the fight against climate change by reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions, as well as providing support (including financial) to developing countries. The third Conference of the Parties (COP 3, 1997) adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005. It commits developed countries1 to quantified reduction of their collective carbon emissions – 5.2% by 2012 compared to the base year (1990). It established an international emissions-trading system and a Clean Development Mechanism allowing developed countries to meet their commitments with emissions- reduction projects in developing countries. However, the US – at the time the world's number one emitter – did not ratify the protocol, seriously limiting its effectiveness. The second commitment period2 (2013-2020) of the Kyoto Protocol affects only 14% of Members' Research Service Page 2 of 10 EPRS The Paris Agreement global emissions because only EU Member States, other European countries and Australia have assumed commitments, while the USA, Russia, Canada and Japan have not. In 2009, COP 15 in Copenhagen set out to reach a new climate agreement for the post- Kyoto period that would commit developed as well as developing countries, but this ended in failure. The conference did however result in the Copenhagen Accord, a non- binding document that sets a target of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees, establishes the Green Climate Fund, and agrees a goal to provide climate finance from 'a wide variety of sources', worth US$100 billion per year to developing countries by 2020. Countries The High Ambition Coalition and the EU made voluntary mitigation pledges for the period up The level of ambition of the Paris to 2020. Agreement exceeded expectations, in In 2011, COP 17 in Durban started the process that particular the commitment to make efforts for limiting global temperature led to the Paris Agreement, by resolving to conclude rise to 1.5 degrees. This objective was a new agreement by 2015 to cover the post-2020 pushed by the High Ambition Coalition, period. an alliance of over 100 countries that In November 2014, China and the US announced emerged during the Paris conference. It their intention to address climate change. This includes the EU and developing accord was widely regarded as raising the chances of countries from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions, among others. The reaching an agreement in 2015. United States, Australia and Brazil joined The Lima conference in December 2014 (COP 20) the group during the Paris conference. concluded with the adoption of the 'Lima Call for As climate and energy Commissioner, Climate Action', a document that invited all Parties Miguel Arias Cañete, revealed, the (countries) to communicate their plans for post-2020 alliance met discreetly in May 2015 in climate action in the form of Intended Nationally Berlin, and on the sidelines of major climate gatherings throughout the year. Determined Contributions (INDCs). By the end of The group wanted five-yearly reviews, a November 2015, 184 out of 196 Parties had common robust set of transparency and submitted an INDC. The Lima call contained an annex accountability rules, and a fair deal on with elements of a draft negotiating text. Several climate finance and support. UNFCCC negotiation sessions were held in in 2015, but did not resolve key issues regarding fairness, responsibility and finance. The European Commission published its position for COP 21 in February 2015, Council adopted a negotiating mandate in September 2015, and the European Parliament adopted its resolution in October 2015. COP 21, chaired by the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, started in Paris on 30 November 2015 with a gathering of over 150 heads of state or government, and ended on 12 December 2015 with the adoption of the Paris Agreement and a number of related decisions. Paris Agreement provisions The Paris Agreement establishes a comprehensive framework for international climate action, to which all Parties contribute. Legal form The outcome of COP 21 consists of a COP decision (140 points and 20 pages), and the actual text of the Paris Agreement (29 articles), which is presented as an annex to the decision. Members' Research Service Page 3 of 10 EPRS The Paris Agreement The legal form was an important issue in the negotiations, with the EU and other Parties insisting on a legally binding agreement, but US Secretary of State, John Kerry, warning that it must not be a 'treaty' that legally requires countries to reduce their emissions.3 The Paris Agreement contains some provisions that are legally binding (such as preparation and implementation of NDCs, as well as reporting), and others that are voluntary.4 The agreement avoids quantified targets for emissions reductions or financial flows, and does not provide for enforcement or sanctions. It foresees a 'mechanism to facilitate implementation of and promote compliance' that shall be 'be expert-based and facilitative in nature and function in a manner that is transparent, non-adversarial and non-punitive'.
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